It’s Halloween season, so what better time to hear the grossest story of all time?
It’s got tapeworms, it’s got at home approximations of medical treatment–and it’ll put you off sushi forever.
“This Won’t Hurt A Bit”–Tapeworm
“This Won’t Hurt A Bit” is a medical podcast that talks about unusual cases in healthcare. In one episode, Dr. Kenny Banh talks about a case involving tapeworms.
At the end of 2017, Dr. Banh was working in the emergency room at the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, California. A young man came and said he wanted to be treated for tapeworms. It’s not unusual for patients to make guesses about what’s wrong with them. But most of them don’t produce evidence. As for what this evidence was? A multi-foot tapeworm wrapped around a toilet paper roll. (1)
How The Tapeworm Came Out
The man, who was not named, for obvious confidentiality reasons, told Dr. Banh he had been in the bathroom when he felt a strange sensation. He didn’t know what was happening at first. Then, he was struck with fear: “Oh, my goodness, my guts are coming out of me!”
Most of us, if we thought our internal organs were becoming external, might seek medical help. This man did the exact opposite: he grabbed whatever was coming out of him, and pulled.
When he saw it was a worm, he was understandably relieved. Only after that, did he go to the hospital.
The medical staff rolled the tapeworm out on the floor–and it was 5.5 feet long. (1)
Tapeworm From Sushi?
The source of helminth–the scientific name for the tapeworm–baffled both doctor and patient. But then, it struck him. “I eat raw salmon almost everyday,” he said. (1)
Is A Tapeworm From Sushi Possible?
Well, before, it was thought to be very unlikely. The common idea was that tapeworms were mostly found in Asian countries. Even the Center for Disease Control (CDC) says that “tapeworm infections due to T. solium are more prevalent in under-developed communities with poor sanitation and where people eat raw or undercooked pork. . . .Latin America, Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Asia.” However, Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense, the Japanese broad tapeworm, was found in fish in Alaska, according to a 2017 report in the journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases. Between 1986, when the Japanese broad tapeworm was discovered, and 2017, the article says there have only been approximately “2,000 cases . . . reported, mainly from northeastern Asia. However, recent studies that used molecular methods indicate that the number of human cases caused by this tapeworm may have been highly underestimated.” (1, 2, 3, 4)
Is A Tapeworm From Sushi Likely?
It’s hard to say. As the journal report says, there have been relatively few cases. But, according to Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, “we do things that we haven’t done before.” “Now, we have these fresh caught fish that can be transported anywhere and eaten raw,” he says. “I am sure we will be on the lookout for this kind of tapeworm going forward.” (3)
